Apparatus and method for single action control of social network profile access

ABSTRACT

A computer implemented method includes allowing a user to access a user-controlled social network profile page with posts in a specified order. A user is permitted to traverse an interface element across the specified order to establish a set position for the interface element. Access to posts is provided on a first side of the set position to define a viewable profile. Access to posts is blocked on a second side of the set position to define a non-viewable profile.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/672,654 filed Nov. 8, 2012, the contents of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to communications in computer networks.More particularly, this invention relates to single action control ofsocial network profile access.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A social network service is an online service, platform or site thatfacilitates the building and maintenance of social relations amongindividuals. Each member of a social network service maintains a profilewith user information and user posts, which may be comments,photographs, videos, endorsements and the like. The posts may be fromthe user and/or individuals that the user is affiliated with in thesocial network. In this way, social network sites allow users to shareideas, activities, events and interests with affiliated individuals.

Privacy is a growing concern with social networks. Information posted bya user or an affiliated individual may be distasteful or becomeoutdated. The user may desire to restrict access to certain informationon their profile while allowing access to other information. While mostsocial networks have configurable privacy control settings, such privacycontrol settings may be hard to find and in many instances they areconfusing, resulting in an unintended access to information. Given thatusers are generally able to see all of the content that they havecontributed to their profile, it can be difficult to determine whatcontent is visible to others and what is visible only to the user.

Accordingly, improved techniques for controlling social network profileaccess are desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A computer implemented method includes allowing a user to access auser-controlled social network profile page with posts in a specifiedorder. A user is permitted to traverse an interface element across thespecified order to establish a set position for the interface element.Access to posts is provided on a first side of the set position todefine a viewable profile. Access to posts is blocked on a second sideof the set position to define a non-viewable profile.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The invention is more fully appreciated in connection with the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a system configured in accordance with an embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates processing operations associated with an embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a profile page with a single action interface elementutilized in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a profile page with a re-positioned interfaceelement.

FIG. 5 illustrates a profile page with that provides selective profileinformation in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a profile page ordered by category.

FIG. 7 illustrates the profile page of FIG. 6 with a re-positionedinterface element.

FIG. 8 illustrates the profile page of FIG. 5 with a set privacy controlbar that provides selective profile information in accordance with anembodiment of the invention.

Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout theseveral views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 configured in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. The system 100 includes a set of clientdevices 102_1 through 102_N and at least one server 104 connected via anetwork 106, which may be any wired or wireless network.

Each client device 102 may be a computer, tablet, Smartphone and thelike with standard components, such as a central processing unit 110connected to input/output devices 112 via a bus 114. The input/outputdevices 112 may include a touch display, keyboard, mouse and the like. Anetwork interface circuit 116 is also connected to the bus 114 toprovide connectivity with network 106.

A memory 120 is also connected to the bus 114. The memory 120 storesstandard components, such as a browser 122, which allow one to access asocial network site, such as a social network site hosted on server 104.Server 104 also includes standard components, such as a centralprocessing unit 160 connected to input/output devices 164 via a bus 162.A network interface circuit 166 is also connected to the bus 162.Further, a memory 170 is connected to the bus 162. The memory 170 storesmodules of executable instructions to implement disclosed operations.For example, the memory 170 may store a social network module 172, whichsupports standard social network operations, such as hosting profilepages, maintaining social graphs for individual users and facilitatingcommunication between the individual users.

The memory 170 also stores a profile access module 174. The profileaccess module 174 includes executable instructions to implementoperations of the invention. In particular, the profile access module174 includes executable instructions to allow a user to manipulate aninterface element to establish single action control of social networkprofile access. The interface element may be any object (e.g., bar,line, circle) that partitions one set of information from another set ofinformation.

FIG. 2 illustrates processing operations associated with an embodimentof the profile access module 174. Initially, a user is allowed access toa user-controlled social network profile page 200. For example, a clientdevice 102 may access the social network module 172 of the server 104.In response, the server 104 supplies to the client a user-controlledsocial network profile page.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user-controlled social network profile page 300,which may be displayed on a client device. The profile page 300 includesmember data 302. The member data 302 may specify the member's name,biographic information, interests and the like. In one embodiment of theinvention, the member data 302 is in a fixed position such that it isalways viewable.

The profile page 300 also includes posts 304 in a specified order, inthis case along a temporal axis 306. In this example, there are 10posts. The latest post is “Post@T”, while earlier posts are marked“Post@T−1” through “Post@T−9”. FIG. 3 also illustrates an interfaceelement 308. In this case, the interface element is referred to as aprivacy bar.

Returning to FIG. 2, the next operation performed by the profile accessmodule 174 is to permit the interface element to be manipulated 202. Forexample, the interface element 308 may be dragged with a single actiongesture applied to a touch display of the client device. Alternately,the interface element 308 may be manipulated through a single actionmouse stroke or keyboard stroke. The interface element 308 ismanipulated along the temporal axis 306. As the interface element 308 ismanipulated, the server 104 refreshes the profile page 300 displayed onthe client device. FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a refreshed profilepage with the interface element 308 at a new position. Observe that theuser of the user-controlled social network profile page can still viewposts on either side of the interface element 308. However, members ofthe user's social network have limited post access. That is, as shown inFIG. 2, social profile access is provided on a first side of theinterface element 204. In this example, social profile access isprovided on top of the interface element 308. Access is blocked on thesecond side of the interface element 206. In this example, socialprofile access is blocked on the bottom of the interface element.

FIG. 5 illustrates this functionality. In particular, FIG. 5 illustratesthe provision of access to posts on the first side of the bar positionto define a viewable profile 500. FIG. 5 also illustrates the blockingof access to posts on a second side of the bar position to define anon-viewable profile 502.

The interface element 308 may include a configurable setting toestablish the future position of the interface element 308. As shown inFIG. 5, a user may select a static interface element 504 or a slidinginterface element 506. The system may have a default to one option orthe other. In the case of a static bar, as time advances the viewableprofile expands. That is, the currently viewable posts “Post@T”,Post@T−1” and “Post@T−2” would remain viewable and additional postswould be positioned on top of them in temporal order. In the case of asliding bar, as time advances, the viewable profile maintains a statictemporal window size. In this example, the viewable profile wouldinclude a temporal window size for three posts. Thus, as new postsarrive, an older post, such as “Post@T−2” would slide into thenon-viewable profile region 502 to make room for the new posts. In thisway, a listing of all posts is maintained, but access to the posts islimited. Accordingly, a user can make those posts available at a latertime, if desired, by moving the interface element 508 down the temporalaxis 306.

The processing operations of FIG. 2 may be applied to profile pages withdifferent configurations. For example, FIG. 6 illustrates a profile page600 with member data 302 and posts organized by category. In particular,there is a column of posts 602 in a first category and a column of posts604 in a second category. The category may be established by content,sub-sets of social network members or other criteria. A verticalinterface element 608 may be manipulated across category regions. FIG. 7illustrates a re-positioned interface element 608. Again, the userobserves posts on either side of the interface element 608. However, asshown in FIG. 8, members of the user's social network only see posts inthe first category 602, while posts in the second category are blocked.

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a computer storageproduct with a computer readable storage medium having computer codethereon for performing various computer-implemented operations. Themedia and computer code may be those specially designed and constructedfor the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kindwell known and available to those having skill in the computer softwarearts. Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not limitedto: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape;optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs and holographic devices;magneto-optical media; and hardware devices that are speciallyconfigured to store and execute program code, such asapplication-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), programmable logicdevices (“PLDs”) and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer codeinclude machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and filescontaining higher-level code that are executed by a computer using aninterpreter. For example, an embodiment of the invention may beimplemented using JAVA®, C++, or other object-oriented programminglanguage and development tools. Another embodiment of the invention maybe implemented in hardwired circuitry in place of, or in combinationwith, machine-executable software instructions.

The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specificnomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that specificdetails are not required in order to practice the invention. Thus, theforegoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention arepresented for purposes of illustration and description. They are notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formsdisclosed; obviously, many modifications and variations are possible inview of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and describedin order to best explain the principles of the invention and itspractical applications, they thereby enable others skilled in the art tobest utilize the invention and various embodiments with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It isintended that the following claims and their equivalents define thescope of the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method, comprising:allowing a user to access a user-controlled social network profile pagewith posts in a specified order; permitting a user to traverse aninterface element across the posts in the specified order to establish aset position for the interface element; providing access to posts on afirst side of the set position for the interface element to define aviewable profile; and blocking access to posts on a second side of theset position for the interface element to define a non-viewable profile,wherein blocking access to posts includes blocking access to postsobserved by social network members associated with the user, while theuser has access to posts on the first side of the set position and thesecond side of the set position.
 2. The computer implemented method ofclaim 1 wherein the viewable profile includes fixed information thatremains in the viewable profile.
 3. The computer implemented method ofclaim 1 wherein the specified order is along a temporal axis.
 4. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the specified order hascategory regions.